Matt Holliday

Valar morghulis. Who could predict that throwing over 150 innings every year since Felix Hernandez turned 18 would be dangerous? Oh, everyone? In pitcher years I’m pretty sure King Felix is 63 years old. Stash or Trash: Trash. He’s predicted to miss 3 or 4 weeks and I’d hate for you to stash Felix and miss your playoffs. This is the 3rd year in a row that Felix’s ERA has risen and it is now at the point where he should yield his “Mariners Ace” crown to the Kingslayer James Paxton. Fill In:German Marquez (44.7%.) It’s time for everyone’s favorite game show: “What Are This Colorado Pitcher’s Splits?!” Home: 4.31; Away: 3.86. Actually not that bad! Marquez has allowed more than 3 runs in only 4 of his 18 starts this season including his last 5 starts being quality starts.

Let’s just go on what logic tells us. Not Logic, the rapper, but logic the thing you’ve been chipping away at with your weed smoking. In 2015, Billy Beane traded Drew Pomeranz to the Padres for Yonder Alonso. At the time, we have to assume Beane wanted a slugging first baseman. A guy that could hit 25+ homers. Okay, so they dealt with terrible Alonso for two years, and, then, when they get what you think they had to be hoping for, they trade him for a prospect (Boog Powell) that many believe is a bench player. Now, even if Powell pans out, you had in Alonso what you wanted already. I’m beginning to think Beane just does trades to do trades. If you were to hear in fifteen years that Beane was trying to make the A’s worse to get out of Oakland, would anyone be surprised? Moneyball 2 is going to be starring Jamie Kennedy and straight-to-DVD. Any hoo! Alonso loses some value going to the M’s because he’ll likely platoon with Danny Valencia (hit his 13th homer on Sunday), though, I guess it could be argued this is a positive move for Alonso, because he’s hit .188 vs. lefties this year. As for Powell, the A’s might promote and platoon him because what do they have to lose? Or rather, what do they have to win? If they’re lucky, Boog will bring some of his trademark ribs. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:

Shades of Freddie Freeman… Pedro Strop might want to hire security for his home in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic because bitter Nationals fans are going to be hurling lots of huevos from Trea Turner‘sbroken wrist. Nationals fans are an interesting lot to begin with. Many of the people who attend Nationals home games are transplanted fans of other teams who are only in DC temporarily for business or pleasure. I went to a Nationals game once where a woman was reading and knitting the entire time. I don’t think she witnessed a single out. Back on track! Trea! Of course his amazing stats are only told to you AFTER he is set to miss about two months. In June he had 22 stolen bases. 22. By himself. And yes, I did list Trea as a bust in the 2017 Razzball Writers Predictions. But here’s what I wrote to Jay as justification: “Turner has skills—no doubt. But he has less than 1,000 at bats since he entered professional baseball in 2014. He is going to be this year’s Carlos Correa—drafted in Round 1 or 2 and not earning back that cost.” Steals will be there. Runs too. Everything else? Ehhhhhh. Stash or Trash: Stash. Please. Fill In: So there is no replacing 22 stolen bases in a month. But you know that, right? Hell, over the last 30 days there are only 4 players with over 10 stolen bases. So I’m going to recommend one of them: Cameron Maybin (61.9%.) This is more of a shallow league add, but he’s one of the few players that can even give you part of Trea’s stats. Maybin is always a risk to find himself in an issue of Ambulance Chasers, but right now his 24 SB and 49 runs aren’t bad.

Origin Story Alert! In the Roppongi district of Japan, which sits between Chichibunomiya and Akabanebashi, lives a puppeteer named Goshi. For his entire life, Goshi worked in the medium of strings and miniature clothes. Sometimes, due to all the opium he smokes, he’ll forget where he left off one day and start new the next day. Due to a three-year process of forgetting and starting anew, he accidentally built a puppet that was 75-feet tall and named it Marcell Ozuna. The puppet simply went by the name, OZUNA. Elsewhere in Japan, on holiday, Giancarlo Stanton arrived with his family and me in his suitcase (how I’m able to relay the story). Giancarlo was marveled at everywhere he went, due to sheer handsomeness and size. One Japanese man said of Giancarlo, “You are like Mt. Fiji of GLOW.” OZUNA and Giancarlo remained on separate paths for many moons, until one faithful day when an explosion at a nuclear plant caused a giant lizard to emerge from the ocean. That lizard’s name was Allahzilla, because it originated in the Middle East, according to scientists. Armed with merely bats, Giancarlo (3-for-4, 4 RBIs and his 22nd and 23rd homers) and OZUNA (2-for-5, 2 RBIs and his 23rd homer) beat back Allahzilla and the Cardinals while freeing all of humanity, and fantasy. Thanks, heroes! Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Uh-oh, the double lede! This is more spectacular than the double rainbow. WHOA, DOUBLE LEDE! Alex Cobb threw a gem yesterday — 8 IP, 0 ER, 3 baserunners (2 Hits), 4 Ks, ERA at 3.73, but his brother from another mother and father, Alex Colome blew the game, going 1 IP, 2 ER, and now has given up seven earned — sevearned? — in his last three appearances. Alex Cobb carried a no-hitter into the 7th and was so good yesterday that Robert Wuhl is writing the screenplay to Cobb 2: More Corn. However, do the Rays play Blondie “Call Me” when Colome comes in? If so, stop! If not, give it a try because we need to shake things up. I grabbed Danny Farquhar before the game even ended. Lord Farq could get a few saves if Colome remains dreck. …Cause somebody once told me that Farquhar is an ‘own me,’ and I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed! Colome was looking kind of dumb with a crooked number on the board and an L shape hanging on his scorecard. Well, the years start coming– Okay, I will stop now. In the end, Tommy Hunter got the save after the blown save, so he could also be in the mix if Colome needs a little rest. In one league, I grabbed Farquhar; in one league, I grabbed Hunter for ye ol’ hedge. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

There is no truth to the rumor that Elvis Andrus stole his entire playing career from “Fats” Domingo, “Ivory” Roberto Kelly or Nate King Colbert. Elvis hits the covers off the ball better than Cam “Carl” Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis Brinson. It is not Elvis’ fault that the way he plays the bat is seen as an appropriation of a top shortstop of yesteryear. He’s got the chops to knock down that axe! (All guitar knowledge I possess was used in that nine word sentence.) Yesterday, Elvis Andrus had the best game of an already great season, going 3-for-4, 3 runs, 4 RBIs with his 8th and 9th homers. On our Player Rater, he’s in the top 20 overall. Not for shortstops, for all hitters and pitchers. Love me tender! Some of the names he’s above Giancarlo, Correa, Mookie and Dee Gordon. Love me sweet! Never let me go! Well, not so fast there. If I thought you could actually get value for Andrus in a trade, I could see it since he’s likely at his peak value. Unfortunately, there’s little chance you’d get back in a trade anything resembling Andrus’ value, so I’d Bubba hold Tep. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Since it was an afternoon game, Ted and I settled in to watch Max Scherzer vs. the Marlins. First inning and the slider was working. 2nd, 3rd, 4th innings and the Marlins had no chance. 5th inning and Ted demanded I take him out and play catch with him.

115 degrees in the shade and we’re back in for the 6th inning, and Scherzer hasn’t missed a beat while missing the bats. Everyone knows everything there is to know about Scherzer. He is at least the 3rd best starter in baseball, and likely second best, though who’s first? Sale? Then Kershaw and Scherzer? I don’t know, Kershaw’s looked pretty human at times this year. Sale, Scherzer then Kershaw? Sounds about right, but need to search for other things to talk about with him. Hmm…Well, there’s always his android eyes.

Max Scherzer has heterochromia, which means he has two different color eyes. This allows him to see in 3D without the glasses.

Now back for the 7th inning and it’s more no-hitter, and, Jesus Christopher Ramirez, the Nats announcers are a bore. Let’s go mute for the 8th inning, and Dietrich gets, uh, diet rich of sliders. Now, Ellis and goodbye no-hitter. Of course, that was the point Dusty should’ve lifted Scherzer since even the announcers said Scherzer says he doesn’t want to ever throw past 120 pitches. You guessed it, he went past 120 pitches, and lost the lead, but, once again, a dazzler — 8 IP, 0 ER, 3 baserunners (2 hits), 11 Ks, ERA at 2.09. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

If you had to choose one word to describe the 2017 fantasy baseball season, where would your imagination take you? ‘Disastrous’ for all the ESPN leagues you’re in that don’t have enough DL spots to let you breathe? ‘Unexpected’ for one guy in the history of the universe that selected Ryan Zimmerman and Aaron Judge at the turn of the first round? Or what about ‘covfefe’ for all the unbelieveable coverage Razzball’s fantastic hub of writers has bestowed to the masses?

My darkhorse pick is ‘superteam.’

With Trout hitting the DL for six to eight weeks after shredding his thumb on the home run statue in centerfield of Marlins Park, we’ve stumbled into a glorious window of time where the construction of superteams is possible without the complaint of collusion. Imagine this window for superteam construction as the parallel universe where all those Crawford-esque Red Sox contracts actually worked themselves out. I’ve done my best impression of what I’d like to call “rational Dave Stewart” and wheeled my way into one more share of Mike Trout, with aspirations for more. The titan of baseball is now embodied in all his thumb-less glory on two of my most coveted teams (I detailed my portfolio of fantasy baseball assets back in March). My intention with this column is to breakdown the rationale behind that acquisition and help all of you not only acquire Trout, but understand the thought process around acquiring any injured player of this caliber in the future.

Hope everyone is ready for a sun tan today! The Tampa Bay Rays are going to give our skins some much needed color…ok, I’m done I promise. I’m sure you already know, but I like the Rays as a whole today. As a team they’ve been heating up, and they’ll be facing off against a pretty unknown pitcher in Austin Bibens-Dirkx. WHO? I didn’t even know he existed before today, nor if he was any good or not. I did some digging and his stats aren’t terrible in the minors with a little over 3.00 ERA this year. Also has an ERA of just under 4.00 this year in long relief. I’m still going to load up on bats here. Mostly because of three things: stadium, conditions, and how often does a long reliever last more then a few innings? The bats I’ll be targeting start with Logan Morrison at $3,500. I think he’s a great play for the price and the potential. I also like Evan Longoria at $3,300. He’s had a rough time this year but I think he’s a much better hitter then what he’s shown. Corey Dickerson at $4,200 seems obvious at this point, but he’s always in play if your stacking Rays. Last guy I really like from this team is Tim Beckham at $2,900. The former #1 pick hasn’t done much of anything in his career but with the injury to Matt Duffy, he’s finally getting a chance to play everyday. Its beginning to pay off as he’s showing a power stroke and a decent average. I expect his success to continue through today, at least.

Now on to the picks…

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Or will he? Dun, dun, DUNNNNNN…ok, I don’t think he will. What, you thought I’d drop a hot beat and a fresh rhyme on you a la Grey? Psssh, I ain’t about that life, son. I’ll belt out some Cornell for you live and in person, but you won’t catch me getting lyrical up in this wordpress. Ok, ok, supply and demand so here’s a hot track. I’m not sure what the equivalent of being rick rolled is in this day and age, but consider yourself as such. You got served! But now that I’ve served you in a way you didn’t like, let me serve you in a way you should: JC Ramirez at $14,400 is middling in terms of price on this slate and ripe for K opportunity facing the surging Rays. Surging, I say? Yes, I do. Sadly, the Rays are a weird bunch so far this year. Though their K% against righties leads the league, they’re 2nd in the league in wRC+ against them as well. If you want some further schism, Rays are also 1st in K% on the year but 4th in wRC+. All this to say that Ramirez isn’t a slam dunk, but I think the Ks will give him a nice baseline. I’ll tentatively give him the green light as an SP2 in cash, but will definitely be in on him as either a 1 or 2 for tourneys on today.

Speaking on Chris Cornell a bit more, if you’ll permit me…we’ve had some great sounds come out of Seattle and it’s a sad trend that lots of those lungs lend themselves towards ending early. Cornell was a voice you heard above the fray, whether you wanted to or not. He had a long and amazing career. People who thought he sold out with Euphoria Morning and beyond have no clue what it means to be an artist who wants to challenge themselves. The man could sing anything he wanted…and he wanted to be a lot of different artists. You metalheads who needed the hard edge couldn’t appreciate that his love of Beatles and Otis Redding brought you Superunknown. In kind, you all who couldn’t appreciate his time with Soundgarden who thought it was just screeching noise, don’t actually understand that soul comes in many forms. I’m gonna drop one of those in between tunes that seemingly few heard here called Sweet Euphoria and going on with my picks for this slate…right after I drop the Razzball Listener’s League that goes down with tomorrow’s slate. Reserve your spot now, win money tomorrow. It’s almost like investing!

New to FantasyDraft? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well be sure to read our content and subscribe to theDFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!